Combined automobile tail and brake operated stop light



Sept. 18, 1962 A. w. VAN OOSTEN COMBINED AUTOMOBILE TAIL AND BRAKE OPERATED STOP LIGHT Filed Nov. 30, 1959 I N VEN TOR. Mn 005/21 United States Patent 3,054,983 COMBINED AUTOMOBILE TAIL AND BRAKE OPERATED STOP LIGHT Adrianus W. van Oosten, Oude Delft '76, Delft, Netherlands Filed Nov. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 856,156 Claims priority, application Netherlands Dec. 3, 1958 2 Claims. (Cl. 340-50) This invention relates to a tail stop-light or the like comprising a lamp casing, a reflector and a lamp, and further being provided with an electromotor, by means of which a member arranged in the lamp casing can be caused to rotate for obtaining a moving luminous effect.

Stop lights of this general type are known. In the known construction a member is arranged around a lamp, which member can be made to rotate by the electromotor. When, however, the member is not rotating and the lamp is lighted and consequently the whole apparatus functions as a normal tail light, the reflecting surface of the reflector reflects a silhouette of the member. In that case the light is not emitted as a closed beam.

Further, a tail stop-light is known, in which the reflector itself is the rotatable member, such reflector being built up of adjacent segments which are mutually placed at an angle, the lines of limitation of said segments or their prolongations converge in the summit of the reflector. In the known construction the reflector could be interrupted at certain places, but this has the drawback that the interruptions do not emit a beam of light as a closed beam.

This invention is an improvement over my invention entitled Stop Light filed January 28, 1957, Serial No. 636,775, Patent No. 2,947,970 issued August 2, 1960.

It is, accordingly, an object of the invention to provide a tail stop-light of the above type, in which a closed beam of light will be obtained.

According to the invention the stop-light is provided by making the light in such a way that when the hand or foot brake are not actuated the reflector, when being used as a tail light, emits an unrefracted beam of light.

A casing provided with an opening is arranged so that it is rotatable around the light bulb. The casing is also slidable coaxially with regard to the light bulb, such that in actuating either lbrake, the casing will come within the sphere of action of the reflector and at the same time will be caused to rotate.

An eflicient construction is that in which the casing is slidable on a sleeve comprising a dish-shaped widening at its end opposite to the light bulb, the edge of said Widening co-operating with the pulley of an electric motor, and said casing comprising a circumferential groove which can co-operate with a toppling lever which is subjected to action of a spring, the other end of said lever being coupled to the armature of an electromagnet, said motor and the magnet being simultaneously controllable. The sleeve comprises preferably a stop for limiting the sliding movement of the casing.

In case the foot brake is pressed down or the hand brake is actuated, the brake light will, as usual, be lighted, but in doing so the casing described will be pushed at the same time into the sphere of action of the reflector and moreover will be caused to rotate. Consequently a rotating luminous effect is obtained. When the brake is released, the stop-light will dim and at the same moment the electric motor having caused the casing to rotate, will come to a stop and the casing will move out of the sphere of action of the reflector.

If, by night, the combination is lighted normally as a tail light, an unrefracted beam of light will be obtained when the driver does not brake, since the whole reflecting surface of the reflector can reflect effectively the beams of light emitted by the light bulb. As soon as the foot brake is pressed down or the hand brake is actuated the stop-light will be lighted and at the same time the rotating casing will come into the sphere of action of the reflector, whereby a rotating luminous effect is obtained.

The eaxmple of the invention will be more fully decribed in the following specification with references to the drawing in which:

The single figure shows an elevation in section of the casing in which the tail stop-light is provided with a fixed reflector and a member which is rotatable in the lamp casing.

In the drawing the reference character 1 indicates the lamp casing, which may consist of metal or possibly of plastic. The open end of the lamp casing 1 is closed by means of a glass plate 2, behind which the reflector 3 is arranged. In the interior of the lamp casing 1 is a partition 4 which is provided with a central tube 5 serving as a holder for the light bulb 6. Said light bulb comprises two filaments one being illuminated at night and serving as the normal tail stop-light, and a second filament being illuminated by working the hand or foot brake. A sleeve 7 is fitted tightly around the central part 5, said sleeve being widened at its rear side so as to be dishshaped, while the edge of said dish can co-operate with the pulley 8 of an electric motor 9. The sleeve 7 is freely rotatable around the tubular central portion 5. The sleeve 7 is encased in a casing 10, which includes notches, one of them being indicated by 11. If the sleeve 7 is caused to rotate by the electric motor 9, the casing 10 is also caused to rotate. At its rear the casing 10 has a circurnferential groove 12 being engaged by a projecting part of the toppling lever 13. Said lever is rotatably supported in stanchion 14 and is subjected to the action of a spring 15. The other end of the toppling lever 13 is coupled to the armature 16 of an electromagnet 17. If the electromagnet 17 is energized, the armature 16 moves inwards and the toppling lever 13 will rotate around the point 14 and consequently the casing 10 will reach the position indicated by dotted lines. The electromagnet 17, the motor 9 and the spiral for the stop-light are connected in parallel in the same electric circuit, whereby they are simultaneously energized when the brake pedal is pushed down or the hand brake is pulled. Thus, the casing 10 is caused to rotate, the stoplight being illuminated, and at the same time the casing 10 will reach the position shown in dotted lines, which means that said casing will come into the sphere of action of the reflector 3 and the beams of light emitted by the light bulb 6 will then be interrupted regularly, which results in a rotating luminous effect. If the brake is released, the filament for the stop signal will be deenergized, the motor 9 will stop and the electromagnet will be without energy. All means return to the position of rest shown in full lines. This means that if the device functions as a normal tail light, the entire reflecting surface of the reflector 3 participates in the reflection of the light emitted by the light bulb 11.

I claim:

1. In a signaling mechanism, the combination comprising a lamp, means to energize said lamp, a reflector, a casing movable into surrounding relation to said lamp, means to rotate said casing when the lamp is energized, and means to move said casing parallel to its longitudinal axis into surrounding relation to said lamp upon lamp energization, said casing having portions defining notches in the edge of the same in the portion thereof surrounding said lamp, and said casing movable from surrounding relation to said lamp upon deenergization thereof.

2. In a signaling mechanism, the combination comprising a housing having one side closed by a glass plate, a lamp supported in said housing and having at least one filament, a reflector surrounding said lamp and flaring 3 outwardly toward said glass plate, a sleeve comprising an inner portion embracing a part of said lamp and an outwardly extending portion, a motor fixed in said housing and having a pulley in driving engagement with the outwardly extending portion of said sleeve, a casing embracing said inner portion of said sleeve and having spaced segments removed from its periphery at the end thereof at the forward portion of said lamp, means engaging a portion of said casing to move the same in sliding telescopic relationship With the said sleeve into surrounding relation to said lamp, and a circuit interconnecting said lamp filament, the said motor and the said last named means to move said casing into extended position and rotate the same when the lamp filament is energized.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,315,168 Smith Sept. 2, 1919 1,551,901 Nase Sept. 1, 1925 1,786,518 Chambers Dec. 30, 1930 1,889,623 Arbuckle Nov. 29, 1932 2,097,056 Briechle Oct. 26, 1937 2,104,911 Snyder Jan. 11, 1938 2,208,079 Nosal July 16, 1940 2,273,026 Dircksen Feb. 17, 1942 

